ACCT 344 - Income Taxation I - Syllabus - Fall 2009

Instructor: William P. Brown Office: Hiner 106.3
web: http://www.longwood.edu/staff/brownwp/ Office telephone: 434.395.2365
Office Hours email: brownwp@longwood.edu

Last updated: Friday, July 24, 2009, 07:33 PM.

OBJECTIVES

This course begins the study of federal income tax law. During the semester, students should (1) learn the basics of that law as it applies to individuals and small businesses (2)become sufficiently familiar with tax research resources to determine the answers to moderately complex tax questions, (3) be able to complete moderately complex individual tax returns,and (4) become familiar with the fundamental aspects of being a tax practitioner.

Prerequisites

Students taking this course must have successfully completed ACCT 242 with a grade of C- or better.

ADDITIONAL READINGS

To better meet these objectives, students are expected to regularly read The Wall Street Journal and other business publications. Students will also regularly access and read tax related files and publications available on the Internet. (A list of tax-related sites is at http://www.longwood.edu/staff/brownwp/wpbtax.htm#tax.)

TEXT

Pope, Anderson, and Kramer, Prentice Hall's Federal Taxation 2010 Comprehensive (Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010)

GRADES

Each student's grade will be computed using the following weights:

Letter grades: A - 90.0% or more; B - 80.0% to 89.9%, etc.

Individual Work

Written Homework
Written homework consists of questions and problems at the end of each chapter, a series of tax returns, and a written review/analysis of two tax journal articles. These items are due on the date specified in the assignment schedule.

Included in the written homework are a number of Case Study, Tax Strategy and Tax Form/Return problems. Most, if not all, of these problems will require use of a major tax service such as CCH's online service, Tax Research Network, or other resources available on the Internet. A separate handout describes the format of these research problems, the tax return assignments, and the review and analysis of tax journal articles.

All written homework, except the tax returns, MUST be submitted by email to brownwp@longwood.edu

Participation
The In Class problems on the assignment schedule should be reviewed prior to class for discussion or presentation in class.
Quizzes
Several short quizzes will be given during the semester. Quizzes will be of about 10 minutes duration. These short quizzes cannot be made up but a valid excuse (see below) may eliminate a quiz entirely from computation of the final grade.

The second component of this grade is to submit the multiple choice quiz for each chapter in Prentice Hall's Companion Website for our text. Each chapter's multiple choice are due before the first class meeting dealing with that chapter. Exception: The Corporate chatper 1 multiple choice results are due by 1:00PM, September 3rd. Send your results to yourself and to me.

Participation

Students are expected to prepare for each class by reading the assigned material and reviewing the in-class problems shown on the Assignment schedule.

Approximately one quarter of each student's grade in this area will be determined by attendance. The rest of the grade will be determined by performance in class.

Tests

Two tests will be given during the semester on the dates indicated in the class schedule. Tests may be rescheduled on an individual basis if a valid excuse is approved by the Dean of the College of Business & Economics. Generally, hangovers, heavy dates, upcoming parties, and/or several tests on the same day will NOT be considered as valid excuses by the Dean or anyone else. Each test will have an in-class and take-home component.

Final Exam

A comprehensive exam will be given at the day and time specified in the Longwood College exam schedule.

COMMENTS

Students can expect to spend a minimum of 3 hours working on accounting outside of class for each classroom hour. This equals about 9 hours per week plus 3 hours of classroom time. Each of you must decide upon a set of priorities for allocating time among this and other courses, job, family, recreation, etc. This is a personal decision that you will have to make for yourself. Whatever choices are made, each person will have to abide by the consequences of those decisions.

As with most college courses, an individual student will get no more out of this course than he or she puts into it. It is important that each of you comes to class prepared for the day's assigned topics. To be prepared (1) read the assigned chapter(s) including the examples and (2) review the In-class questions and problems and determine the answer, if possible. Be ready to both answer questions in class and to ask questions about aspects of the material not understood.

OTHER ISSUES

Honor Code: All students are expected to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the Longwood College Honor Code.

The faculty of the School of Business and Economics authorized including this statement in course syllabi.

Academic Dishonesty Policy: Cheating in any form will not be tolerated in the College of Business and Economics. If the instructor determines that a student has cheated on an assignment, the grade of "F" may be assigned for the assignment or the entire course. "Cheating" is the provision and/or use of unauthorized resources and/or the work of another, including but not limited to, homework, tests, papers, presentations and exams. Unless specifically instructed otherwise, students are to assume that all course work is to be the work of the individual student alone. If a student is unsure as to whether collaboration is permitted, the professor should be contacted in advance of performing the work.

Bad Weather: Students should become familiar with the College's policy on bad weather. In a nutshell, if the university is open, students residing on campus are expected to attend class. Students residing off campus are expected not to take undue risks in attempting to get to school. If the university is closed, check BlackBoard.

Computer Usage: All students must have an active email account. All students must regularly access and particpate in the "BlackBoard" for this course. All students will become familiar with and make regular use of CCH's online service, Tax Research Network.

Other computer resources in the library and on the Internet will also be used by all students. Sessions outside of class meeting will be held in the library for introduction to its resources. Sessions outside of class meeting time will also be scheduled for those students who need to learn use of web-browsers, search engines and other resources to locate and exploit information on the Internet.

Updates: Revisions to this syllabus or the assignment schedule will appear on the Longwood web server at http://www.longwood.edu/staff/brownwp/acct344.htm.

Disability access: Students wishing to resquest accomodation for a disability should begin that process by contacting
Dr. Sally Scott, Director of Disability Services
mailto:scottss@longwood.edu 804-395-2392(voice) 711(TT relay).

Academic Policy: Longwood's Undergraduate Academic Probation and Suspension Policy is online.

Disclaimer

This course and the related web pages, course materials and class room lectures are designed to provide accurate and authoritative information about complex areas of tax law. The information contained in this course, materials and lectures may change as a result of new tax legislation, Treasury Department and IRS pronouncements or court decisions. This course, materials and lectures are not intended to provide legal, accounting, or other professional services. They are provided with the understanding that I am not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services.

The information contained in this course and the related web pages, course materials and class room lectures represent a general overview of federal tax law. They should not be relied upon without an independent, professional analysis of how provisions of federal tax law apply to any specific situation.

This course and the related course materials and class room lectures should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent tax advisor should be sought.

Circular 230 Disclaimer: Any tax advice contained in the body of this course and the related web pages, course materials and class room lectures is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, by any recipient for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code or applicable state or local tax law provisions, or (2) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.

William P. Brown

My office hours are shown at http://www.longwood.edu/staff/brownwp/wpboffhr.htm.

The assignment schedule for this course is at http://www.longwood.edu/staff/brownwp/asgn344.htm.

A list of Internet sites for this course is at http://www.longwood.edu/staff/brownwp/wpbtax.htm#tax If you have any questions, please e-mail me at brownwp@longwood.edu.

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